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Vista Golf (Free) by Shallot Games is an elegant mini golf game that’s sure to appeal to everyone. If you enjoy games like Super Stickman Golf 3 and OK Golf, then you will love Vista Golf.

While golf may be relaxing to some, it’s pretty boring for me, at least in real life. Personally, I much prefer mini golf because it’s more fun and easier for me to enjoy, especially with friends and family. However, I don’t go too often for mini golf, so it’s only an occasional thing I do. Fortunately, there are video games that simulate mini golf so I can enjoy it at my leisure. While my favorite golf games continue to be the Super Stickman Golf series from Noodlecake, I still enjoy finding new offerings on the App Store. Vista Golf is the latest one to catch my eye lately.

App Feels Like

Vista Golf features a minimalist aesthetic with low-poly graphics that is sure to delight most people. In a way, the visuals remind me slightly of Horizon Chase, which I don’t think is a bad thing as it’s a modernized retro style. The courses appear simple and clean, with beautiful and serene landscapes that are lush and relaxing to gaze upon. The colors are bright and vivid, but shift to more muted tones as you putt in different locales. Animations are smooth and fluid with seamless transitioning and no lag. There’s a soothing, ambient soundtrack that immerses you into the world of virtual mini golf.

There are three difficulty levels in Vista Golf that players can select from the main screen. You can choose your difficulty level by dragging your finger left or right, or just use the arrow buttons. Each week, Vista Golf showcases one course for each difficulty level, so there’s three courses each week. These courses represent different locations from all over the globe, so you can experience lush tropics or snowy mountains while playing mini golf.

There’s also an infinite mode that lets you play as far as you want on a larger-than-life course that never ends. Regardless of how you want to play, both fun and frustration await you in Vista Golf. Plus, with new courses refreshed every week, there’s always new content to look forward to.

Controls in Vista Golf are super simple and incredibly intuitive. When the ball is still, there’s a circle that surrounds it. Just drag from within the circle to line up your shot and adjust the power of the hit. This is clearly indicated with the number (from zero to 100) that shows up under the arrow. To hit the ball, just release your finger. If you want to cancel, just get the number down to zero and then remove your finger from the screen.

Sometimes you will need to move the camera around to get a better view. This is done by dragging anywhere outside of the circle. You can also pinch to zoom in or out for a better look at the whole course.

If you ever need to undo a stroke, you’ll have to “rewind” and watch an ad to do so. But to make sure players don’t abuse this feature, you’re limited to two per course, so use them wisely.

Unless you’re playing the infinite mode, each course has a total of 18 holes for you to play through. Each hole has a par number, which is the number of strokes required to complete, usually, though you can always get less (better) or more (worse). By the 18th hole, your pars get tallied up and your score’s determined. The game features global leaderboards so you can keep trying to get a better rank. There’s also plenty of achievements to obtain.

A beautiful and minimalistic mini golf game.

The Good

Vista Golf is a fantastic mini golf experience on iOS. The low-poly design of the graphics is cute and quirky, while providing enough detail to create realistic courses. Vista Golf’s music is tranquil and calming, helping players focus on the courses and getting (hopefully) the fewest pars as possible. Having new courses each week means more reason to keep coming back to the game, and the controls are intuitive and responsive. And for those who truly want to relax, the infinite mode is excellent for doing just that.

The Bad

While Vista Golf is an excellent free mini golf game, it is annoying that you have to watch an ad to use an undo. Also, I did notice while shooting the ball that the power levels may not always be accurate, so the physics in the game seem a bit off. For example, sometimes even a power of 20-30 causes me to overshoot, and something less ends up in an undershoot. It’s hard to predict where the ball ends up when hazards and obstacles are factored in, so hopefully that’s fixed in an update.

The verdict

Vista Golf, despite the flaws in physics, is still enjoyable and downright fun entertainment. I love the minimal graphics because they still feel elegant and look great, the music is a delight, and the controls are simple to learn. Having new courses to look forward to each week means more reason to keep playing, plus infinite mode is a great way to relax. I just hope that the physics gets refined in an update to be more accurate and predictable.